Monsters…
Throughout history, in every culture; monsters continue to prevail, horrify, and fascinate. Syllable format – (4-4-6-8-6)
The life he led
one day (he said)
was boring dull and scant,
but using scary images
he found a stimulant
.
Such awes (he said)
imbue the brain
with such a special dread,
the Balrog or the Jabberwock,
the Yeti and the dead
.
Avoid the dark
(he said) dismayed
hearts icy depths perturb
there’re strange and twisted creatures there
it’s best not to disturb
.
My heart could fail
(he’d weep and wail)
there’s so much discontent,
but Grendel and Medusa still
he found were scintillant
.
The Giant Squid
of Jules Verne
for certain fuels a fright,
the Minotaur and Wendigo
stand strong in fearsome might
.
The Nephilim
an evil race
worst monsters in the lot
are known for eating anything
such wickedness they brought
.
Leviathan
and Fenris too
new horrors they conceal
that keep us wond’ring if at all
they’re fake or if they’re real
.
Those in my head
that day (he said)
seem diff’rent than the rest
but never did that stop his pen
or lessen all his zest
.
And so, he wrote
with hearts delight
of monster’s blood and gore
and all the crazy fears they’d bring
that kept some wanting more…
.
© Richard Lloyd Cederberg
5/2019
.
BALROG. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
JABBERWOCK. Through the Looking Glass, Lewis Carroll
YETI. Folklore
GRENDEL. Beowulf
MEDUSA. Greek Mythology
GIANT SQUID. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Jules Verne
MINOTAUR. Greek Mythology
WENDIGO. Algonquian Mythology
NEPHILIM. Holy Bible. Genesis. Numbers. Ezekiel.
LEVIATHAN. Holy Bible. Job
FENRIS. Norse Mythology
Biography – Richard Lloyd Cederberg
RICHARD was born in Chicago Illinois. He is the progeny of Swedish and Norwegian immigrants. Richard began his journey into the arts at age six. For twelve years he played classical trumpet. Then… the wonderful incursion of British music influenced him to put down the trumpet and take-up acoustic and electric guitar. Richard began writing songs and lyrics and poetic construct. He performed in 17 professional bands. He played clubs, halls, cabarets, and concerts in Europe, Canada, across the USA, Alaska, and even Whitehorse in the Yukon Territories. Richard’s band SECRETS was one of the top four Pop-Jazz bands in San Diego for 5 years. In 1995 Richard was privileged to design and build his own Midi-centered Recording Studio ~ TAYLOR & GRACE ~ where he worked until 2002. During that time, he composed, and multi-track recorded, over 500 compositions. Only two CD’s were compiled: WHAT LOVE HAS DONE and THE PATH. Richard retired from music in 2003…. RICHARD’S POETRY uses various inspirations: nature, history, relationships (past and present), parlance, alliteration, metaphor, characterization, spirituality, faith, eschatology, and art. He relishes the challenge of poetic stylization: Rhythmical, Poetic/Prose, Triolets, Syllable formats, Story-Poems, Freeform, Haiku, Tanka, Haibun, and Acrostic. Richard has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize.
.
PUBLISHED BOOKS: The MONUMENTAL JOURNEY SERIES integrates adventure, mystery, and historical fiction. Journey on the schooner Heimdall with Dr. Gabriel Proudmore, John, Helga, Betsy, Garrett, Captain Olaf Amundsen, Rorek Amundsen, Anders Vildarsen, and Rolf the Wolfhound…
1. A MONUMENTAL JOURNEY…
2. IN SEARCH OF THE FIRST TRIBE…
3. THE UNDERGROUND RIVER…
4. BEYOND UNDERSTANDING…
5. BETWEEN THE CRACKS… a spinoff from the MJ Series…
.
NEW BOOKS being written or compiled:
A NEW RACE OF HuMAN’S… an eschatological drama that takes place just before the translation, during Daniel’s 70th Week, and into the Millennium.
UNDER SILENT BRIDGES… a diversified collection of Richard’s poetic invention, short-stories, essay’s, and Michele’s digital photography.
Robin Ouzman Hislop is Editor of Poetry Life and Times ; his publications include
All the Babble of the Souk , Cartoon Molecules and Next Arrivals, collected poems, as well as translation of Guadalupe Grande´s La llave de niebla, as Key of Mist and the recently published Tesserae , a translation of Carmen Crespo´s Teselas.
You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)
Poetry
Disruptions. Poems by Gary Beck
‘Disruptions’ is an unpublished collection that examines the various interruptions to the daily struggle in this difficult life. Author’s Comment.
(i)
Suspension
The days get cooler,
the nights colder,
more and more grey days.
Some say climate change.
Others say nay.
It is difficult to tell
what is or is not normal,
allowing many to ignore
the need to reduce
polluting fossil fuels.
(ii)
Relocation
Many governments
build housing for the poor
often a benefit and curse
at the same time,
since social services
rarely accompany relocation
leaving residents adrift
with insufficient resources
to cope with new conditions.
The Chinese government
has built entire cities
for several millions
uprooting them
for a new way of life
completely unprepared
for a foreign environment
confining them to hi-rises.
(iii)
Freedom State
Whether alone
in public space,
isolated in a crowd,
or solitary confinement,
we are only prisoners
when we stop thinking
about the issues
of our times.
(iv)
Primordial Response
Fear of the machine,
accentuated
by the growing loss
of fear of Nature,
except when propelled into panic
by flood, fire, hurricane,
since for urbanites
the natural world
generally seems benevolent.
Our primitive selves
require something to dread
so we select the machines
that abused so many,
replaced so many,
forgetting that men
make the machines,
operate the machines.
(v)
News Reports
The President says:
Russia didn’t interfere
with our elections,
so of course it must be true.
The new E.P.A. head
is firing the scientists
who believe in climate change.
More and more men are guilty
of harassing women.
Road rage incidents
end in shootings.
A puppy in a pet shop
is stolen by a couple.
And endless amounts of sports,
all kinds for all tastes.
These tidbits just a hint
of what goes on daily
that we never hear of,
suggesting to some of us
we have no idea
what really goes on
in this complicated world.
Gary Beck has spent most of his adult life as a theater director. His poetry collections include Days of Destruction (Skive Press), Expectations (Rogue Scholars Press), Dawn in Cities, Assault on Nature, Songs of a Clerk, Civilized Ways, Displays, Perceptions, Fault Lines, Tremors, Perturbations, Rude Awakenings and The Remission of Order (Winter Goose Publishing). Conditioned Response (Nazar Look), Virtual Living (Thurston Howl Publications), Blossoms of Decay, Expectations and Blunt Force (Wordcatcher Publishing). His novels include Flawed Connections (Black Rose Writing), Call to Valor and Crumbling Ramparts (Gnome on Pig Productions), Sudden Conflicts (Lillicat Publishers). Acts of Defiance (Wordcatcher Publishing). His short story collections include A Glimpse of Youth (Sweatshoppe Publications), Now I Accuse and other stories (Winter Goose Publishing) and Dogs Don’t Send Flowers and other stories (Wordcatcher Publishing). The Republic of Dreams and other essays (Gnome on Pig Productions). Feast or Famine and other one act-plays will be published by Wordcatcher Publishing. His original plays and translations of Moliere, Aristophanes and Sophocles have been produced Off Broadway. His poetry, fiction and essays have appeared in hundreds of magazines. He lives in New York City.
Robin Ouzman Hislop is Editor of Poetry Life and Times ; his publications include
All the Babble of the Souk , Cartoon Molecules and Next Arrivals, collected poems, as well as translation of Guadalupe Grande´s La llave de niebla, as Key of Mist and the recently published Tesserae , a translation of Carmen Crespo´s Teselas.
You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)
The Sap Declaration of Independence. A Poem by Amparo Arróspide. Translated from Spanish
Editors Note: this piece is an extract and translation from the larger work of Valle Tietar a volume of poetry written in Spanish – here we can only provide a taste & glimpse of its originality, a work in defence of fauna & flora & to those for whome the Spanish tongue is available, where the book may be purchased, if so desired. www.elsastredeapollinaire.com
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Cast: Representatives and Chorus
To the people of Pain and to all peoples in the world
Today the SAP nation restores its lost and long-desired sovereignty, after centuries of trying in vain to coexist with the Spanish Sapiens
-
Apiens Apiens Apiens
The SAP nation, its languages and cultures have a most ancient history. For millennia it has exercised self-government in fullness, with the Stone being the highest expression of historical rights. During periods of freedom, granite gneiss has been,the column where our non-institutions were crystallized
-
Llized Llized Llized
Justice and individual and collective non-human rights are the basis for the constitution of the SAP REPUBLIC
Since the times of the Copious Mounts, the SAP policy has played a key role with an exemplary, loyal and democratic attitude
-
Ude Ude Ude
and with a deep sense of non-State
This allegiance has been met with the denial of recognition to the SAP and with a slave driver and herbicide discrimination. Millions of creatures, millions of creatures were and are tortured and killed
The non-human citizenship Statute could be a new stable and lasting framework for a bilateral relation between SAP and PAIN. But it is an agreement again and again broken by the Spanish Sapiens
-
Apiens Apiens Apiens
After listening to our non-citizens, the Stone, the Forest and the uncivil society called a referendum. Despite brutal arson fires to prevent it, a majority vote was cast in favour of the constitution of our REPUBLIC
-
Ublic Ublic Ublic
And NOW we, democratic representatives of the non-people, freely exercising our right to self-government and complying with the mandate granted by the non-citizens
WE CONSTITUTE the REPUBLIC of the SAP, as an independent and sovereign non -State, constitutional, democratic and antisocial
WE START the greening process
WE URGE the supra and subterranean international community, infernos and supernos, to intervene to stop the violation of law in progress and to witness the process still under negotiation
WE APPEAL to non-States and to human organizations to recognize our Republic
-
Ublic Ublic Ublic
WE URGE the Stone to adopt any necessary measures to implement this Declaration
WE APPEAL to each one of the non-citizens to make us worthy of the freedom we grant ourselves and to build a non-State that translates our collective desires into flight and whirlwind!
We, the Legitimate Representatives of the No People (signatures)
In Tietar Valley, on the 11th Maw (former October), 2033.
Amparo Arrospide (Argentina) is a Spanish poet and translator. She has published seven poetry collections, Mosaicos bajo la hiedra, Alucinación en dos actos algunos poemas, Pañuelos de usar y tirar, Presencia en el Misterio, En el Oido del Viento, Hormigas en Diáspora and Jaccuzzi, as well as poems, short stories and articles on literary and film criticism in anthologies and in both national and foreign magazines.
She has received numerous awards. Editor’s Note: see also Poetry, National Literature Prize 2018, Francisca Aguirre, Translated from Spanish by Amparo Arróspide & Robin Ouzman Hislop
Robin Ouzman Hislop is Editor of Poetry Life and Times ; his publications include
All the Babble of the Souk , Cartoon Molecules and Next Arrivals, collected poems, as well as translation of Guadalupe Grande´s La llave de niebla, as Key of Mist and the recently published Tesserae , a translation of Carmen Crespo´s Teselas.
You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)
GRIEF COUNSELOR . A Poem by Brian Rihlmann
We sat at the bar
sucking back beers
in that smoky roadhouse,
and you went on about it,
and finally said,
“I mean, where is he?
Where did he go?”
Your father, gone,
three months ago
in a freak accident,
his pickup winding up
on its roof in a ditch
for no apparent reason.
You looked at me,
and my lame answer
limped out,
“I believe that
when you’re gone,
you’re gone.”
Spoken like a good
and faithful atheist.
My truth telling
a matter of principle.
You stared at me, nodding
and biting your quivering lip,
Adam’s apple working
as you tried swallowing
the bitter fruit
of my honesty.
I saw it, and quickly said,
“But what the hell do I know?”
And some years later,
I remember you
angrily saying
that when we die
we just rot in the ground,
and I winced
at how you spit
those words out,
and wished I’d lied
way back then.
Brian Rihlmann was born in NJ, and currently lives in Reno, NV. He writes mostly semi autobiographical, confessional free verse. Folk poetry…for folks. He has been published in Constellate Magazine, Poppy Road Review, Cajun Mutt Press, The Rye Whiskey Review and has an upcoming piece in The American Journal Of Poetry
Robin Ouzman Hislop is Editor of Poetry Life and Times ; his publications include
All the Babble of the Souk , Cartoon Molecules and Next Arrivals, collected poems, as well as translation of Guadalupe Grande´s La llave de niebla, as Key of Mist and the recently published Tesserae , a translation of Carmen Crespo´s Teselas.
You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)
Collected Poems Laredo Light by RW Haynes Press Release
We are pleased to introduce at PLT, RW Haynes recent volume of collected poems hailing from Laredo. It’s been our pleasure to publish a selection of Haynes’ works over the last few years, ( in case of interest view Search or Categories at this site ). He’s a poet with a canny and unique expertise in the craftmanship of the classical sonnet dating from the Renaissance poets and a master of the lyrical mode but absolutely written in contemporary vogue. At times profoundly reflective and self effacing they saunter from the wry and whimsical to the depths of inner movement, whilst harvesting at all times a spectacular vocabulary in accompaniment. Editor’s comment.
Southern Baptists Sponsor Stormy Daniels Forgiveness Tour
“It costs a lot of money to look this cheap.”
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–Dolly Parton
Brothers and sisters, we all have turned away
From the true path, but in our faith we know
We can return, though bled half-dry, although
In pain and shame for having run astray.
Judas, too, was born a child of light.
His mother saw in him how love arrives.
His kiss would guarantee that it survives
All storminess and darkness, shining bright.
And we also betray our closest friends
And sell ourselves and them with greedy minds
Until amazing grace assures that conscience finds
We have gone chasing after stupid ends.
And now, O brethren, it has come to pass
We’ve put our money on the wrong jackass.
R. W. Haynes, Professor of English at Texas A&M International University, writes various things in prose and in poetic form. His academic specialty is 16th-century England, but much of his work lately has been on the playwright/screenwriter Horton Foote. His poetry collections Laredo Light and Let the Whales Escape are being published this summer. He recently wrote a play titled Never Claim a Kill, and he hopes to complete his novel The Songs of Billy Bonstead before Laredo cools off again. Another project in progress is an academic work currently titled The Struggling Spirit in the Plays and Screenplays of Horton Foote.
Robin Ouzman Hislop is Editor of Poetry Life and Times ; his publications include
All the Babble of the Souk , Cartoon Molecules and Next Arrivals, collected poems, as well as translation of Guadalupe Grande´s La llave de niebla, as Key of Mist and the recently published Tesserae , a translation of Carmen Crespo´s Teselas.
You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)
The Arrest of Mr. Kissy Face. Collected Poems by Mitchell Grabois. Press Release
The Arrest of Mr Kissy Face Mitchel Krockmalnik Grabois
M Krockmalnik Grabois is a poet extraodinaire, his works lucidly readable are delivered in a paced, snappy even raunchy style ranging from the common place mundane social to the seedy, slapstick macabre. Much of his writing follows the genre of narrator vignettes with the inevitable turn and twist closure punch lines that amorphize a mix of compassion with often hilarious black humor. Indeed, these poems are psychotic taking us to the verge of psychopathy where they compell the reader to a confrontation of her own humanity. A provocative and very recommendable read. For further works by Mitch Grabois see and search links below: Robin Ouzman Hislop Editor Poetry Life & Times, Artvilla.com, Motherbird.com
The Arrest of Mr. Kissy Face
I kissed the woman who slices lunch meat
at King Sooper’s
She shoved smoked turkey at me
leaned away
and called: Next!
I kissed my doctor
I’d been wanting to do it
since she first told me to stick out my tongue
and complemented me on its smoothness
and the elegance of my taste buds
I kissed her and she asked
On a scale of one to ten, how have you been feeling this week?
I kissed her again
Have you been seeing or hearing things that aren’t really there?
Have you been feeling suicidal or homicidal?
I kissed her more deeply
really sent my tongue to a remote locale
Do you have access to weapons?
I said:
How can you ask me that
after everything we’ve been through?
Anyway, this is America
She called Security
Security knew me
from the days when I was a high school football star
and an amateur boxer and cage fighter
who went by the moniker Destructo
They were afraid of me
called the cops
warned them: Be sure to bring your stun guns
your billy clubs
and chemical weapons
The first cop who entered the room—
I kissed her
She yelled FREEZE!
Hands where I can see them!
Get down on your knees!
I happily complied
Mitchell Krockmalnik Grabois
Mitchell Krockmalnik Grabois has had over fourteen-hundred of his poems and fictions appear in literary magazines in the U.S. and abroad, including quite a few in POETRY LIFE AND TIMES. He has been nominated for numerous prizes, and was awarded the 2017 Booranga Writers’ Centre (Australia) Prize for Fiction. His novel, Two-Headed Dog, based on his work as a clinical psychologist in a state hospital, is available for Kindle and Nook, or as a Print Edition . To see more of his work, google Mitchell Krockmalnik Grabois. He lives in Denver.
Robin Ouzman Hislop is Editor of Poetry Life and Times ; his publications include
All the Babble of the Souk , Cartoon Molecules and Next Arrivals, collected poems, as well as translation of Guadalupe Grande´s La llave de niebla, as Key of Mist and the recently published Tesserae , a translation of Carmen Crespo´s Teselas.
You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)
WASTING AWAY. A Poem by Bradford Middleton
Life has dwindled out here
On the periphery of this nightmare
At the edge of full-blown catatonic
Fever sweeping through me
As the waste has done its job on me
And this thing I call a life
No words have been written
As too much life has spent being lived
Until now when at last craving peace
I get a night home alone with
No major worries afflicting my
Mind.
This room is sorted for as long as I want it
My job is still hated but plans are being made
To get out of there too and not before time
As the ten year anniversary suddenly looms
Taking me back to that time when I arrived
Dreaming of a better life only to be dumped
On the refuge tip of creativity, to forsake money
As the evil of all evils. But here everything
Costs something and my brain needs special
Meds to keep it functioning and
All that weed costs a fair old wedge
Whilst all that booze costs a whole lot more
Leaving me with little after rent and food
Have been taken care of.
Right now though I’m just happy
To get this room sorted out as the first requirement
Of a life like this is a room in which I can sleep,
Write, drink, smoke and eat as that is
All I ever really want to do.
BIOGRAPHY
Bradford Middleton was born in south-east London during the summer of 1971 and won his first poetry prize at the age of nine. He then gave up writing poems for nearly twenty-five years and it wasn’t until he landed in Brighton, knowing no one and having no money, that he began again. Ten years later and he’s been lucky enough to have had a few chapbooks published including a new one from Analog Submission Press entitled ‘Flying through this Life like a Bottle Battling Gravity’, his debut from Crisis Chronicles Press (Ohio, USA) and his second effort for Holy & Intoxicated Press (Hastings, UK). He has read around the UK at various bars, venues and festivals and is always keen to get out and read to new crowds. His poetry has also been or will be published shortly in the Chiron Review, Zygote in my Coffee, Section 8, Razur Cuts, Paper & Ink, Grandma Moses ‘Poet to Notice’, Empty Mirror, Midnight Lane Gallery, Bareback Lit and is a Contributing Poet over at the wonderful Mad Swirl. If you like what you’ve read go send a friend request on facebook to bradfordmiddleton1.
Robin Ouzman Hislop is Editor of Poetry Life and Times ; his publications include
All the Babble of the Souk , Cartoon Molecules and Next Arrivals, collected poems, as well as translation of Guadalupe Grande´s La llave de niebla, as Key of Mist and the recently published Tesserae , a translation of Carmen Crespo´s Teselas.
You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)
Soul of the ruins. A Poem by Fabrice B. Poussin
The veil is thin perhaps unreal, somewhat untrue,
distance it is, in faint tone, he faces the apparition,
a step and she is not nearer, a step and she seems… gone…
He may despair as a hand reaches out aimlessly.
Into the lightness of the night, tending the darkness of a morn’,
undefined as others, she sings of assured forms;
he can not know for certain in the ruins of the fortress,
ghost of the lady of middle times or mistress of his soul.
She may sit on a cornerstone, birther of life eternal,
disappear into the dungeon wall, or hold in her hand
the statue of a powerful lord almighty, in her feebleness
yet she desires, she wants, she yearns for a life hers.
Take courage young squire, the mist is traitorous,
when fearing the treasure that lies beyond the image,
she is, she exists for the one who braves, unknown,
reward awesome, you will live in paradise.
Misty, undefined, unreal to the outsider,
yet she is, no doubt, remains of her existence;
have faith, believe, as you walk toward the apparition,
the embrace tightens; she will crush your heart into hers so.
Fabrice B. Poussin is advisor for The Chimes, the Shorter University award winning poetry and arts publication. His writing and photography have been published in print, including Kestrel, Symposium, La Pensee Universelle, Paris, and other art and literature magazines in the United States and abroad. He teaches French and English at Shorter University. Author of novels and poetry, his work has appeared in many other magazines. His photography has been published in The Front Porch Review, the San Pedro River Review as well as other publications.
Robin Ouzman Hislop is Editor of Poetry Life and Times ; his publications include
All the Babble of the Souk , Cartoon Molecules and Next Arrivals, collected poems, as well as translation of Guadalupe Grande´s La llave de niebla, as Key of Mist and the recently published Tesserae , a translation of Carmen Crespo´s Teselas.
You may visit Aquillrelle.com/Author Robin Ouzman Hislop about author. See Robin performing his work Performance (University of Leeds)